Problem of the Week

It's another snowy, snowy Monday in New England, but the Center of Math team is hard at work to continue bringing you math content. Like our Problem of the Week! This week's problem (found on mathschallenge.net) is short, but tricky. It doesn't take long to solve as long as you can make the creative first two steps.

Click the picture to enlargen

My solution can be found below...

Princess Awesome Kickstarter

First, I'll tell you to click here to visit the Kickstarter's main page.

Second, I dare you to tell me those dresses aren't cute.

Third, I'll explain why this is important to me.

A young lady in the "Pi" print play dress

Gender biasing in academia is slowly, slowly dissolving. I'm lucky to be going through college at a time where women are encouraged to go into Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields. This infographic from 2013 describes that women in undergraduate studies earn 50% of all bachelor's degrees in Science and Engineering. There are many disparities within STEM, for example, men earn 82% of bachelors degrees in engineering, while women are more likely to major in psychology or biology. But even with the disparities, there is no denying that women are (finally) becoming a true force in the STEM fields.

Even so, when I tell aquaintances that I'm majoring in mathematics, I can't count how many times I've heard something like "Just math? No business?" or "Wow, you must be so smart," or "That's so brave!" There's always a tone of surprise.

Throwback Fact: The Pythagorean Theorem

The Pythagorean Theorem
image: commons.wikimedia.org

Let’s talk about something everybody knows: the Pythagorean Theorem. It’s been drilled into students’ heads from the age of around 13. A squared plus B squared equals C squared. It’s necessary for 9^th grade level geometry. This theorem seems second nature to almost everyone. We’ve used it for years, we know it works, and it’s so easy that even, for example, a novelist who never works with math would still know it by heart. Who came up with it? What makes it so simple, so clean and important?

The Center on College Admissions Exams

Here at the Worldwide Center of Mathematics, Tori, an intern working as the Assistant Director of Mathematical Content, has been hard at work creating new math resources and posts. She’s recently starred in several short videos that were made to help students study for the math section of the ACT (the next exam is February 7^th). Watch the playlist here! Tori is currently a math student at Northeastern University in Boston, and truly enjoys breaking down math problems into simpler, understandable pieces.

Here's one of Tori's first ACT videos

From a big-picture perspective, we want you, the students, parents, or teachers who watch these videos, to think of the Center of Mathematics as your main resource for math help. Our founder, David B. Massey, has given a multitude of lectures on his books and upper-level mathematics that are all available on our Youtube channel. We are not just a textbook publisher; we are a network of teachers and resources, and we are here to help students learn the intricacies of their mathematics courses.

A video from the second ACT shoot

We know that standardized, college-admission tests may seem daunting. They put a lot of pressure on the student, both in terms of time and emotion. They require quick recall of subjects learned all throughout high school. Our videos are meant to help train you to approach ACT or SAT math problems as simply as possible. Often you’ll see Tori use the same methods in several videos- that’s because she knows the techniques to simplify the problems. Math isn’t everyone’s favorite subject, but with Tori’s help (and the help of past and future interns), we can hopefully ease the burden and relax the stigma that is associated with mathematics on standardized tests.

If you have any questions or suggestions for future videos, let us know in the comments!

New SAT, New Questions, New Issues

image: kirkcrady.files.wordpress.com

In recent weeks, The College Board has made national headlines over their decision to revamp the SAT, the score that is perhaps the most important number on a college application besides the hallowed Grade Point Average. The College Board has lowered the top possible score to 1600, down from 2400, heavily revising what the old three sections contained...

Problem of the Week

Yes, this PoW post is a day late; we apologize. We were unexpectedly out of the office yesterday due to Winter Storm Linus (our second huge snowstorm within a week). To make it up to you, we have an interesting problem that intern Zach found here on reddit, which we wrote out to post on our Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ pages.

Click to enlargen!

See Tori's solution by clicking through the jump...